Snoring Md. dispatcher disciplined, shifts under review

WASHINGTON – Steps are being taken to ensure Montgomery County Fire and Rescue dispatchers are not asleep at the switch after an emergency worker snored through a call last month, a county councilmember says.

Councilmember Roger Berliner — a member of the council’s Public Safety Committee — says the entire county is “aghast” and finds it “appalling and unacceptable” that the dispatcher was fast asleep during an April 4 emergency call.

The dispatcher was 17 hours into a 24-hour overtime shift when he failed to promptly respond to a call for help for a man having trouble breathing.